Jason was pissed.
It was an understatement; he was actually pacing back and forth in his big brother's living room, trying not to scream bloody murder when he was still alone.
He had been talking with Tim - which was still new, with everything that had happened between them, with how much Jason had hurt him in the past - when the kid mentioned a fight Dick and Bruce had some days earlier. Because Jason hadn't believed him, Tim even showed him the argument caught by the camera Bruce installed in the Manor ages ago.
And, Jason was pissed at Bruce more often than not, but the cold, cutting words Dick addressed to him still haunted Jason's heart and mind, just like Bruce's heartbroken expression.
He hated the man, he really did - but he wanted to be the only one to hurt him like that, and no one else. That was all.
He heard the key fumbling into the lock, a soft click, and the door opened.
Dick appeared in the doorway. He looked fine, hair ruffled by the wind, grocery bags in his hands, his jacket open despite the cold outside. Even with his lack of smile, his expression was far from unhappy or guilty, like one would have expected considering the fight with their father not so long ago. It shifted to mildly annoyed as soon as he spotted Jason, though.
"You know, I gave you a key so you wouldn't climb in the window and leave it open in the middle of winter," his brother said, closing the door by pushing it with his feet and going to the open kitchen. He started sorting out his groceries, not looking at Jason, probably waiting for some sort of retort or whatever.
"What the hell is your problem?" Jason immediately attacked - he thought his anger would have cooled down upon seeing his eldest brother, like it always did, but for once it just added fuel to the fire.
"You'll have to be more precise about which one you're talking about." Dick sounded - unbothered. He was still putting away his groceries.
"I'm talking about Bruce, and what the fuck you told him!"
Dick hummed. "Which part?" he asked, still- still empty. Empty was the right word - no emotion in his voice, on his face, like the whole situation happened to someone else far away and totally removed from him. For a heartbeat, Jason feared that his brother was dissociating hard - but when Dick looked at him, his eyes were clear and focused.
Jason... Jason couldn't understand. Dick - Dick had always been some sort of mystery to him, his big brother so exceptional, with a shadow so large he could fit at least four other birds in it. But Dick also did everything despite his full schedule to spend time with him, again and again, managing to fit in weekend trips for them and movie nights in his apartment. Jason had loved that, back when he was Robin - that someone loved him enough to make time for him, as self-centered as it might sound. Now - well, now, Jason was the big brother too, and he had absolutely no idea how Dick had done all of that. No matter what happened - Dick was still the better hero, the better person, the better big brother, the better son.
Jason wanted to hate him for it, but like any other person stuck in Dick's shadow, he couldn't help but love him anyway.
Which made what Dick told Bruce so - not unforgivable, but more out of character than anything.
You lost any rights you had over me when I turned eighteen, Bruce, and you didn't even try to get it back.
To be honest... Even now, even if he felt pissed at the whole situation - Jason still wasn't sure what all of it meant. All he could see on repeat was the surprised, hurt expression on their father's face, the way Dick's eyes burned in anger, how his brother stormed out after that. It was probably a way to say he was an adult, too, and Bruce couldn't decide for him - which, fair, Jason was feeling the same. But - there had been something else, too.
Maybe Jason was more pissed at the fact he didn't know why it had hurt Bruce, in the end.
"You know what you said," he said. Suddenly, all the fight left Jason, and he just wanted answers. He was feeling sick of all these secrets, and - and the idea that maybe he didn't know his family as well as he should, as well as he thought, hurt him a little. It made him wonder if they still didn't trust him, if they were holding back some things they didn't want him to know - but it was stupid, right? They had wanted him here, in this family, after all. He was probably imagining things.
"I said a lot of things, Little Wing." Dick was still calm, still focused on him, and Jason felt like a child.
"About... you know. Bruce not having rights over you."
And now - and now, finally, there was some emotions on his brother's face. But instead of everything he could have imagined - anger, sadness, recognition, guilt even - confusion wasn't one of them.
"Well... yes. I wasn't lying."
Jason rolled his eyes. "Because you're an adult, yeah, whatever. But- why are you looking at me like that?"
Dick looked... thoughtful. Sad, now, finally, but definitely not for what Jason had thought. "Jason..." he started quietly, like you talk to a wild animal. "What do you mean?"
"Well, even if you're an adult, you know, Bruce is still our father. He spends most of his time reminding me of that little fact."
Dick was still watching him, a strange shine in his eyes. "No. He isn't."
And Jason - Jason probably didn't hear him well, because no way was Dick this petty to deny it. "Excuse me?" he growled more than said.
Dick took a breath, closed his eyes - when he looked at him again, it was with resignation. "Jason. Bruce is not my father."
"Of course he is." Jason hadn't spent years hearing Bruce brag about Dick, and telling him how he was better at this or that, to have his brother outright saying that Bruce wasn't his dad or whatever.
"And why would he be?"
Jason - well, now it was his turn to be confused. Nothing was making sense at all, and he was lost. More annoying even, Dick apparently knew where all this was going.
"Well," Jason said, slowly. "Because he adopted us."
And Dick - smiled. Not happily, not humorously, but with some sort of bone-chilling sadness, coldness. "No. He didn't."
Jason - Jason didn't want to understand, he realized. Because his world had always been Bruce being his dad, Alfred his some sort of grandpa, Dick his oldest brother, distant from their dad but always there for him and- it had been logical, and evident, and Bruce had adopted him right away, so obviously he had adopted Dick as well, he had never even questioned it-
"Jase. Little Wing." Dick had his hand on his cheek. He was way closer now, and his warmth was embracing Jason like it always did in the past - reassuring, loving, comforting.
"He did," he mumbled, because he wasn't sure what he was feeling anymore - horror, shame, sadness, anger, the need to cry or hug his brother - everything and nothing at once.
Was Dick still his brother, then...?
"He didn't. Bruce never adopted me, Jason." And he said it so gently, like it wasn't hurting him, and Jason couldn't imagine-
Jason had been mad like nothing else when he discovered that Bruce had taken Tim in after his death. How could Dick have felt, seeing the man who raised him, but never adopted him, taking in more and more children and adopting all of them?
Jason didn't realize he was crying until Dick hugged him, one hand on his back and the other on the back of his head, petting his hair and voice murmuring in his ear.
"It's alright, Little Wing. It's alright."
It wasn't. Dick was a liar.
Because why would he stick around after all this time, otherwise? Why did he spend so much time with him, or just be available for him, back in the day and now? Why would he do all of what he did, calling him his brother, if they had never been related in the first place?
And Jason couldn't even say that Dick lied to him - because in the end, he never told Jason that Bruce had adopted him. Jason had just thought it was the case, like probably any other kid in his shoes would have - and fuck, did the other kids know, too? Were they aware that their big brother wasn't really their big brother?
Next thing he knew, Jason was sitting on the couch, face still stuffed against Dick's neck, hands refusing to let go of his shirt. "I don't understand," he murmured.
"What do you not understand?" asked Dick gently - not even pitying him, but in this soothing voice he always had when he was comforting them.
"Why... Why did you stay?" Why were you there, why didn't you fuck off with the Titans forever, why were you around for each of us, why, why, why?
"Because Bruce is not the one who gets to decide who my family is. You will always be my little brother, Jason. Nothing will ever change that."
Jason gave another sob - when he thought he had nothing left, and everything kept coming. "But why in the first place-" He didn't manage to finish his sentence, his thought - because this whole situation was confusing and world-shattering, and Jason felt lost.
He didn't even know why he was crying at this point.
(Maybe it was just too many years of feelings being ignored to suddenly break inside of him like fragile glass.)
"Because you're Robin." And it wasn't answering anything, because Robin was just Batman's partner and why would it matter in all of this? "And Robin was me. My family colors. My name. I created it to honor my family - and by putting on this costume, you became a part of my family. You became mine, Jase. Not Bruce's. Not anyone else's. And you still are, will always be. Robins are a family, and Bruce has no say in that."
Jason - Jason's heart was breaking and healing at the same time, full of tiny shards of glass and soft bandages.
Because - he always thought Robin was Bruce's. It never occurred to him that Dick chose it, that it was a part of Dick, that it had a deeper meaning than just fighting beside Batman. And all of what Dick's said - he maybe would have loved to be aware of it before, but he was still glad to know it. Glad, and pissed, and happy, and angry, and full of love and resentment - it was all spiraling out of his heart and eyes as he kept crying into his big brother's arms.
Jason never realized the consequences of being Robin, but this - being part of Dick's family - was probably the best of all. It was worth it - worth everything else.
He wondered if the others knew - but knowing Dick, they didn't. He wondered if they should talk about it - probably. He wondered - but in the end, only one thing truly mattered.
"Thank you," he murmured to his brother, and Dick kissed his forehead. Jason was watching him, now, and Dick carefully wiped all his tears away. Like he always did.
"Anything for my baby brother," said Dick, almost playfully, teasing, like he expected Jason to bounce back from it and answer in the same tone.
Jason was so, so glad Dick was the best person between the two of them. Because he had been here and rolled with being a family when nothing could have forced him to, and he accepted fully and decided that it would be his job to take care of him, of all the other kids.
To hell with Bruce, Dick was the better family. At least he had always been able to show him his love, and never shy away from it either.
Jason closed his eyes - because he was suddenly tired, with too much information now filling his brain. And - he wanted to stay here. With the family that had always supported and loved and been here for him.
In the morning, he would have time to ask more questions and be pissed off - and not at his brother, this time, but at their- his father for his stupid-ass decisions.
But right now - right now he draped himself over his big brother, Dick quietly laughing in his ear, and decided to let himself be lulled to sleep.
"Love you," he said, halfway through the land of dreams, because he needed to say it and make it clear and be sure that his brother knew it - they were family.
It was a wonder how this word suddenly faded into a whole new meaning, and how Jason was embracing it with his whole heart.
"I love you too, Little Wing," said Dick softly.
Jason's body finally relaxed fully, and sleep took his mind away but kept his heart where it was- exactly in the right place, where it was supposed to be.